Growing up in an Italian family meant Italian pastries at EVERY family event. If you’re familiar with Italian pastries then you know most of them have cream fillings such as, my favorite, Cannoli cream! I LOVE Cannoli cream. Seriously, I could eat it with a spoon. Unfortunately Cannoli cream is not the best for you. So while it’s totally fine every once in a while, I won’t be reaching for an after dinner Cannoli every night! In an effort to make something kinda sorta similar to Cannoli cream, I came up with this Maple Vanilla Cashew Cream. It may not replace Cannoli cream for good but it’s pretty dang good.
This Maple Vanilla Cashew Cream is made with just 4 ingredients and is vegan! It’s full of healthy fats from the cashews and a minimal amount of sugar from the maple syrup. There are so many dessert dips and spreads out there but I feel so much better eating this one because I know exactly what goes into it. You can eat this spread in so many different ways:
- With a spoon (yes I’m serious)
- Spread onto toast
- Spread onto rice cakes
- In place of nut butter with a banana
- Mixed into some Greek yogurt
- As a dessert dip for graham crackers or cinnamon sugar pitta chips
- If you can get your hands on cannoli shell chips, those would be perfect!
- Spread it onto a bar of chocolate
- You can also make Cashew Cream Cups like I did! Find the recipe here
Maple Vanilla Cashew Cream
Description
This Maple Vanilla Cashew Cream was created based off one of my favorite desserts… Cannoli Cream! It may not replace Cannoli cream but it’s pretty dang good. This cream would go great smeared on toast, chocolate or fruit. Use it in place of nut butter or as a dessert dip.
Ingredients
1 cup cashews soaked overnight
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla
Pinch of Sea Salt
Instructions
- In a blender or food processor add your cashews, maple syrup, vanilla and sea salt.
- Blend until smooth but do not blend for too long or the mixture will turn into cashew butter. As good as cashew butter is, you want the texture to be thicker for a more “cream filling” feel.
- Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a few weeks.
Chris Fusco
Wow that looks & sounds delicious!